Adventure Awaits
by I InsertNameHere I
Summary: This story follows the adventures of Morningkit, a former rogue who became a clan cat, and her best friend/adopted brother, Fernkit.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: I may make a few changes to canon. Just a fair warning to those who do not like that,**

 **I'd like to thank many people for their contributions to this story. One friend in particular is taking on many mantles during this story's creation. She's not only my editor, but also the inspiration for Fernkit, and my supporter through all this. I'd also like to thank another of my friends, who inspired my more unusual character, Moonfeather. Without him, I never would have thought of making Moonfeather a 'lazy genius' (as I like to call her). I'd also like to thank those of you reading this story. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. And now enough of my blabbering. The story is waiting for you.**

* * *

Chapter 1

On the edge of a thick, green forest in Michigan, not a sound could be heard but the soft skittering of forest creatures and the breathing of a young kit.

The brown and orange tortoiseshell had paused to sniff the air, and then whispered to herself, "I must be entering clan territory. The scent is strongest here," after which she looked up at the sky and continued, "Don't worry, mama. I'll fulfill our dream."

She then stepped over the scent barrier at the edge of the forest, marking the territory she just entered as forbidden. While the forest around her remained unchanged, her demeanor had become tenser, her ears now straining for the smallest noise and her fur rising slightly. Not long after crossing the border did her vigilance pay off. She caught the sound of poorly stifled footsteps. Realizing it was a clan cat, as who else would it be in their territory, she allowed her fur to lay back to appear non-threatening and tensely stood still, calling out a small, shaky hello. A confident voice answered back with its own confused hello, and from that direction came a young Siamese kit, no older than her. He gazed at her with surprised eyes but then quickly snapped out of his momentary trance and looked around, motioning her to join him in the underbrush. She followed him, less tense now as she confronted the source of her moon-long anxieties. No matter how much she had let her mind taunt her of the consequences of failure in this moment, even she couldn't stress when she met this strange kit. I mean, to her, her whole future relied on this moment, and instead of providing her with a cat in a position to help her, fate had sent a kit. It certainly eased her fears, seeing someone her own age, but it was certainly not useful for achieving her goal.

"Why are we hiding in the undergrowth?" She asked the strange kit. Now that she was closer to him, she could smell the scent of the clan on him, the same scent that was on the barrier, confirming that he was indeed a clan cat.

Quiet. I'm not really supposed to be out here," he explained quickly, ears straining for the slightest sound.

"Oh, so you're a kit," she said, understanding his sneaky behavior now. But then she realized maybe this kit was not quite who she wanted to be with. If the other clan cats caught her with him… well there goes her hopes. Before she had time to really decide her course of action, he spoke.

"Speaking of being where you're not supposed to be, why are you here? I've never seen you before, and you don't smell like any clan I know of. Not to mention the fact that you're obviously younger than me, since you're so small."

"I am not younger than you and I'm not small. I am five moons old," she retorted, but then regretted it. She figured she might as well be nice to him. If she is nice to him, at least there'll be one cat on her side. And maybe she was a bit small- she just didn't like being reminded of it. Before she could apologize, he again interrupted her thoughts. Something about him just seemed to call out that this wasn't an abnormal behavior on his part.

"Ooh, feisty. You didn't strike me as the feisty type. But you haven't answered my question."

 _As if you gave me time to_ , she thought. Instead, she responded, "Oh, sorry. I'm not a clan cat. I'm a rogue."

"A rogue?" He shouted in surprise. He then realized his mistake as new voices were heard in the forest.

"Fernkit? Where'd you go, you mousebrain!" called the soft, worry-filled voice of an older male.

"I heard him," responded a slightly deeper voice, "he can't be far."

"Mouse dung!" The Siamese kit said under his breath, "they heard me."

The other young kit, however, just realized things were going to be a lot more difficult. She was about to be caught, a stranger, with this kit who was clearly in major trouble. As she steeled herself to make a run for it, a head suddenly appeared in the bush and grabbed Fernkit's, or so she thought his name was, scruff.

"Got you! What do you have to say for yourself?" the cat with the softer voice said. Now that he was in sight, she could see he was Siamese like Fernkit. Perhaps they were related?

"Hi dad," Fernkit said unabashedly.

 _Well, that certainly makes sense,_ the tortoiseshell kit thought, _considering his similar appearance and how his earlier worry is now replaced with annoyance._

"Why were you out of camp?" the other voice she had heard took over. This one belonged to a large, orange-striped Maine Coon. His voice, unlike the other, was calmer and more authoritative.

"Well, I wanted to see the territory and I didn't see why I should stay in camp. I also wanted to collect evidence to prove my point that kits should be allowed out of camp as long as there is a warrior present," he responded, without any hesitation and completely devoid of shame.

"Fernkit, we talked about this. It's too dangerous," Fernkit's father said.

"But I did collect evidence. Plus, I met somebody."

"Fernkit, you- Wait, what?" His father said.

"Hey! You! Come out of the bush!" Fernkit called.

The tortoiseshell kit hung her head in shame and cautiously crawled out of the bush. She refused to look in anyone's eyes.

 _Just my luck_ , she thought, _to be caught with a major troublemaker. No way they'll help me now._

"Seems you weren't lying," Fernkit's father said to Fernkit.

"I never lie! She's a rogue by the way."

"Aren't you a little young to be by yourself?" The Maine coon chimed in.

"I'm older than I look. I'm 5 moons," she said, still looking down.

"That's still awfully young. Why are you here and not with your family?" The older Siamese cat asked.

"Well, my mamas up in Star Clan. As for why I'm here- well... I was hoping maybe I could join a clan."

"You seem to know our culture awfully well for a rogue. Why's that?" commented Fernkit.

"Fernkit, stay out of this! You're in enough trouble already!" The Siamese cat scolded.

"My mama taught me about you. Said she always looked up to clan cats. Had a lot of respect for the clan life and taught my brother and I all about it," she responded to Fernkit's question.

"You really want to join?" The Maine Coon asked.

"Yes, more than anything. But I understand you can't just accept random cats whenever you want to. If you say no, I'll be on my way."

She then held her breath in anticipation. Despite being found with Fernkit, nothing else really went wrong. Still, she couldn't help but fear the answer. What would she do if they said no?

"Well, welcome to the clan. I'm Pinestar, and the cat holding Fernkit is Thornpelt."


	2. Chapter 2

**Once again, thanks to my editor and you, my readers. Sorry it took so long to get this up here. I was procrastinating… And now onwards to the story!**

Chapter 2

"Wait- really? T-thank you so much!" She stammered, in a rush to convey her gratitude. She let out her breath with a sigh of relief.

"Hey, cool! We can hang out when we get back to camp!" Fernkit said.

"No way. You're in trouble," Thornpelt promptly responded to his troublesome kit.

"Thought you would've forgotten about that… anyway, what's your name?"

"My name's Morning," The she-cat responded, "sorry I forgot to say that."

"Come on. Better get back to camp and let them know we found him so we can call off the search parties," said Pinestar.

With Fernkit still in Thornpelt's mouth, Pinestar leading the way, and Morning bringing up the rear they journeyed through the forest deeper into the clan's territory. Before long, they had arrived by a group of trees surrounded by bramble. The group then entered, at which point Morning was able to glimpse the roots of the trees in a shape perfect to provide a place for the cats to sleep. She also noticed a small clearing with fresh prey in the middle and cats milling about. As Morning took in the beauty of it, Fernkit began to protest.

"Come on, let me down, Dad."

"No way. I'm bringing you to the nursery."

And that he did. Pinestar, meanwhile, jumped on a tree stump and called all the cats together. He started by letting everyone know that he found Fernkit. He also said that he has more news once all the search parties return. He then jumped down from the root and beckoned to Morning, who, at the beginning, was largely unnoticed, but began to be noticed more as time went on. More people began to give her suspicious stares, making her really uncomfortable. Pinestar ignored the stares and led her into one of the root caves. Inside was filled with small hollows filled with moss, and hidden away in the far corner was Thornpelt, Fernkit, an unfamiliar calico cat who was licking Fernkit a bit excessively, and a calico kit sitting beside the unfamiliar cat. Pinestar led Morning straight over to the group. The calico cat, at the approach of her leader, stopped licking Fernkit and looked up at him. The kit, meanwhile, was staring at Morning with a look of uncertainty.

"Honeytail, this is Morning. She's joining the clan as a kit. I know you have your hands full with those two, but if you wouldn't mind…"

At the mention of Morning, Honeytail looked over at her and immediately said, interrupting him, "of course I'll care for her. She's a kit after all. As long it is needed. How old are you?"

"She's five moons old like us," said the ever-interrupting Fernkit.

"We didn't ask you. You're still in trouble," said Thornpelt.

"Why can't I answer questions?"

"Because it wasn't directed at you."

As the father and son bickered, Honeytail introduced herself and her other kit, Maplekit. Pinestar has excused himself not long after she agreed, knowing Morning to be in the capable hands of Honeytail.

"Did anyone show you around camp?" Honeytail asked.

"Not yet."

"Maplekit could if you'd both like," offered Honeytail.

"If she wouldn't mind, that'd be great. Thank you."

"I'll do it. Anything to get away from their fighting," Maplekit said.

With that, Maplekit led Morning out and showed her the whole camp, ducking out to avoid conflict when the slightly suspicious stares were too much. Once they made it back to the nursery, Maplekit was relieved to find that Fernkit and Thornpelt had stopped arguing. Thornpelt excused himself and continued his duties that had been interrupted by Fernkit's escapade. Fernkit, of course, continued asking questions about a variety of things, such as why do birds fly and cats not and why do twolegs act the way they do and other such questions that are impossible to answer. Morning, meanwhile, began to question as to why they even let her join the clan. In a short break between Fernkit's rambling, Morning interjected with a question of her own.

"Honeytail, why did Pinestar allow me to join the clan without question?"

"You're a kit. The warrior code states that we must protect all kits, no matter their ties," Fernkit said.

"And I'm sure he could sense the sincerity in your tone, dear. It's not like you're the first rogue to join a clan. A rogue joined Reedclan many moons back. I believe his name was Cherryclaw or Cherrynose," Honeytail assured her.

"Wait, do you remember his name as a rogue?" Morning asked.

"No, I'm sorry. Why do you ask?"

"My brother's name was Cherry. He went to join a clan before me. I haven't been able to talk to him since."

At the mention of that, the den lapses into a slightly awkward silence, no one quite sure how to respond. Luckily, it was only momentary, as a Siamese she-cat happened to walk in.

"Honeytail. Pinestar is calling everyone to formally induct Morning into the clan," she said.

"Thank you, Hollyberry. Come on Morning, Maplekit."

Maplekit, Morning, and Honeytail followed Hollyberry into the clearing. Fernkit, however, didn't even attempt to follow and instead resumed his grumbling about how it was unfair he was being forced to stay in the nursery for simply collecting evidence to prove a point. Once Morning, Honeytail, and Maplekit arrived in the clearing, Pinestar began to speak up on his root.

"Welcome everyone. I have some news for you. While we were tracking down Fernkit, we encountered another kit. A rogue. At her request, I have agreed to let her join Leaf Clan. I ask that you treat her no different as she will prove her loyalty in time. As a mark of her joining the clan, her name shall become a traditional clan name. From this point on, Morning will be known as Morningkit until she becomes an apprentice. Thank you for your attention."

After a pause, Honeytail and Thornpelt were heard calling out her name, with other cats joining in over time. Morningkit, as she now was, stood there, grateful for the (somewhat reluctant) acceptance. As the chants died away, cats began coming up to her and introducing themselves. You Many accepted her right away, while others were unconvinced, and some simply just didn't care. Morningkit, meanwhile, couldn't believe her luck. Finally, she was a clan cat! Finally, she was fulfilling their dream.


	3. Chapter 3

**Special thanks to another of my friends for helping me work out a flaw in my story, and once again thanks to my editors and my readers.**

Chapter 3

A half-moon had passed since Morningkit joined the clan. In that short time, Fernkit had managed to drag her into all sorts of trouble. Of course, why would tonight, the night of the gathering, be any different?

The two kits were, at this moment, not-so-sneakily sneaking around camp. Already, the moon was high in the sky and everyone with any sense was asleep in their nests.

"Fernkit, what are we doing? It's the middle of the night. What kind of scheme did you come up with this time?" Morningkit whispered rather grumpily and more than a little worriedly.

"What makes you think I'm up to trouble?" He retorted, eyes glowing with excitement.

"Well, uh, it's the middle of the night, most of the others are at the gathering, and Maplekit refused to go with us, which she only does when you're up to no good. That's not even taking into account that your eyes are shining like they always do when you have been thinking hard, and you thinking only ever leads to trouble. You have quite a knack for it."

"I shall not dignify that with a response," he said, walking away with his nose in the air.

"I don't understand. You just did."

"Mousedung," he muttered under his breath, "Anyway, come on. They'll be back soon from the gathering."

"You still haven't responded; what are we doing?"

"Have you ever wanted to see a bird's nest up close?"

"And this is related because-" she said, stopping where she was, annoyance and confusion audible in her tone.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to climb a tree."

 _This is just perfect, s_ he thought. _The mousebrain is going to get himself hurt._ "And why would you want to do that?"

"Because. I want to see a bird's nest up close," he replied obstinately.

"Okay, Fernkit, but we can't. We're only kits. We're too weak," she replied, pretending to go along with his plan. By now, she was used to his strange logic.

"Well, we can try, and you're not going to stop me. I've already picked out the tree. What's even better is it's not even outside camp."

"Being outside camp isn't going to matter if we're falling to our death."

"Well, fine. I'm going to go up. You can stay down here and be a coward."

With that, he ran off, forgetting he was supposed to be _hiding_ , stopping in front of a good-size tree. Pausing to smirk at Morningkit, he jumped onto the tree and began climbing. Before long, he began to pant from the exertion.

 _This is harder than I imagined,_ he thought, _but there's no turning back now. I said I'd see a bird's nest up close and that's exactly what I'm going to do._

"Fernkit, you're already tired! Just come back down! Please!" Morningkit shouted, getting too caught up in her worry to remember to be quiet.

"I'm fine!" He said. Of course, just as he said that, he lost his balance and fell to the ground, landing on his leg with an audible _snap_.

"Fernkit!" Morningkit shouted, rushing over to him. "You mousebrain. Hold still. You probably broke something. I'm going to go get Honeytail."

"Okay…"

 _Now I know he's in pain. Otherwise he'd be arguing with me, saying we should keep it between us._

"Honeytail! Honeytail!" Morningkit shouted, skidding into the nursery and nearly running into Maplekit, "Fernkit tried to climb a tree and I think he broke something!"

"What?! Where is he now?"

"Over here!" Morningkit said as she turned and ran back to Fernkit, with Honeytail and Maplekit behind.

 _Why of all days today, Fernkit? Badgerstripe is away for the gathering and so are practically all others with medical knowledge,_ Honeytail thought as she began examining her kit.

"I'm going to move him to the medicine den. Morningkit, Maplekit, can you wait by the entrance to the camp for Badgerstripe?"

With a plan established, Honeytail gently picked up Fernkit and carried him to the medicine den. Morningkit and Maplekit, meanwhile, planted themselves in front of the entrance, obediently waiting for Badgerstripe.

"Maplekit, is Badgerstripe the fluffy medicine cat?" Morningkit whispered, a little embarrassed.

"You've never met him, have you? Yes, he is. And you might not want to call him fluffy while he's around. He doesn't appreciate it."

Luckily, soon after, they began to hear the voices of tired cats. The cats away at the gathering had finally returned.

"Maplekit, Morningkit, why aren't you two in bed?" Pinestar asked, surprised.

"Fernkit was trying to climb a tree, and he fell off, and we think his leg might be broken!" Morningkit replied quickly.

"Oh dear. Badgerstripe! It would appear Fernkit has gone and done it again."

"Him again? Maybe I should make him go out and collect all the herbs he costs me," a new voice, presumably Badgerstripe, grumbled.

"You two, you can go back to the nursery. I'll let Thornpelt know what's going on then send him there as well," said Pinestar.

With that, Badgerstripe went to his den and Maplekit and Morningkit trudged to the nursery.

"Maplekit, do you think Fernkit will be okay?" questioned Morningkit.

"Badgerstripe is really good at what he does. Even if he's somewhat grumpy."

"Okay."

"You're still worried, aren't you?"

"Are you not?"

"I'm worried, too," she responded reluctantly.

"You shouldn't be. He'll be fine. It's not like it's the first time he's gone and hurt himself," a voice, Thornpelt's, interrupted, "now you guys should get some sleep, otherwise Honeytail will have my head."

 _I doubt I'm going to be able to sleep after what happened. I'm too worried about him_ , Morningkit thought. Her body, however, had other plans. She let out a yawn and soon found herself fast asleep.

It had only been a few days since Fernkit got hurt, and already he was being a pain in everybody's tails, particularly Badgerstripe's. Morningkit, as a result, was spending most of her time trying to entertain the curious and excitable kit.

"Morningkit, why do you think we get hurt? What's the point of pain?"

"I don't know…"

"I wonder why though. What's the point? Maybe it's to remind us that we're not immortal and need to appreciate what we have."

"I'm not really sure. Could be."

"Wonder if Badgerstripe knows, what with his connection to Starclan and all."

"I don't think Starclan tells him that sort of thing."

"Oh. Well, when do you think I'm going to get out of here?"

"When you're healed."

"Do you think I'll be healed in time for the ceremony?"

"Maybe," she replied, after a slight hesitation.

"I figured," he said disappointedly before perking up again, "But thank you for taking care of me, Morningkit. You should think about becoming a medicine cat apprentice."

"I don't think Badgerstripe would accept me. I've made so many mistakes while helping him."

"Mistakes are a part of learning. You're work hard and learn quickly. He'd be a mousebrain to reject you just because you've made a few mistakes. The real question is, do you want to be a medicine cat apprentice?"

"Kind of, but I know it's not going to happen. Even if Badgerstripe accepts me, the other clans sure wouldn't."

"You never know. You should talk to someone about it."

"Maybe I will."

Little did they know, Badgerstripe had returned from collecting herbs and heard everything that was just said.

 _Interesting. That kit finally has a point. Even if that point included calling me a mousebrain. As he said, you never know, Morningkit._


	4. Characters

Characters: (As of right now, subject to change)

 **Leader:**

Pinestar

 **Deputy:**

Hollyberry

24 moons

Siamese cat with brownish eyes

Littermates: Thornpelt, Moonfeather

 **Medicine Cat:**

Badgerstripe

108 moons

Black fluffy cat with white underbelly

 **Warriors:**

Thornpelt

24 moons

Siamese cat with brownish eyes

Mate: Honeytail

Littermates: Hollyberry, [Unknown to reader]

Kits: Fernkit, Maplekit, Morningkit (adopted)

 **Queens:**

Honeytail

25 Moons

Calico cat with brownish eyes

Siblings: [Unknown to reader]

 **Kits:**

Fernkit

5 moons

Siamese cat with brownish eyes

Mother: Honeytai

Father: Thornpelt

Littermates: Maplekit, Morningkit (adopted)

Maplekit

5 moons

Calico cat with amber eyes

Mother: Honeytai

Father: Thornpelt

Littermates: Maplekit, Morningkit (adopted)

Morningkit

5 moons

Shorthaired tortoiseshell cat with bits of dark brown and orange and amber eyes

Mother: [Unknown to reader], Honeytail (adopted)

Father: [Unknown to reader], Thornpelt (adopted)

Siblings: Cherry [Status unknown]

Littermates: Maplekit (adopted), Fernkit (adopted)


End file.
